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End of the World? Ultimate Doomsday Cabin in Alaska Seeks $159K


End of the World? Ultimate Doomsday Cabin in Alaska Seeks 9K

alaska-prepper-01

realtor.com

If you’re in the market for the perfect doomsday cabin in the woods, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better property than Kevin Cross’ lakefront home in the Alaskan bush. It’s self-sustaining and surrounded by millions of acres of prime fishing and hunting land.

“It’s 75 miles from the nearest road, or any kind of town,” Cross says. “That’s 75 miles through woods that you cannot walk through. You might be able to snowmobile through them in the winter, and it’s questionable if you can get there by boat in the summer. For all intents and purposes, this property is designed for somebody to go away and not see anybody.”

The nearest town is Skwentna, with a population of just 37 at last official count.

Exterior
Exterior

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The 1,250-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath doomsday cabin on 7.6 acres is listed for $159,000. Cross bought the home six years ago as the ultimate getaway for his friends and family. The home’s original owner was a military vet with strategic expertise who spent thousands of hours crafting the ideal home for a hard-core prepper.

Solar panels
Solar panels

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Solar panels provide most of the home’s electricity. In the summer, they convert 22 hours of daily sunlight into energy, which is stored in a bank of cell batteries. If the batteries run low in the winter, there are three backup generators.

An 80-foot-deep well provides water, and there’s a propane-powered water heater. The home has a conventional wood stove and backup fuel-oil furnace, propane-powered gas range in the kitchen, and greywater system.

Best of all? The next homeowner will inherit the entire setup, including about a half-million dollars in tools and equipment on the property.

“The only thing I’m taking is my clothes and guns,” Cross says.

He’s leaving behind a Kuboto tractor, modified Chevy S-10 pickup dump truck, small-scale lumber mill, welding and cutting torches, mower, wood chipper, two snow machines, compressors, and a garage full of tools. The larger equipment, such as the tractor, was flown in on a dual-prop cargo helicopter.

Interior
Interior

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Tool shop
Tool shop

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The home backs up to a large, unnamed lake (Cross calls it Otter Lake), with year-round pike fishing. He has two floating docks on the shoreline, which he uses to launch his 12-foot-long, flat-bottom fishing boat. Less than a mile away, there’s world-class Alaskan salmon fishing on the Yentna River.

Boating
Boating

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The area sits near the border of two Alaskan hunting zones, 16A and 16B, full of moose, bears, and wolves. There’s a vegetable garden for summer growing.

Cross lives full time in Anchorage, which is 45 minutes away by Beaver, the cargo bush plane made by de Havilland. It costs around $1,000 round-trip to fly from Anchorage to Otter Lake with your family and about 2,000 pounds of cargo. Cross says you schedule a pickup date for the pilot, and confirm with the company using a satellite phone.

Dock
Dock

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Cross keeps multiple first-aid kids on the property, with survival kits and satellite phones, in case one of the buildings catches fire and he needs to rough it until help arrives.

That isolation means there’s a lot of time to read books out by the lake, fish, barbecue, and otherwise relax. It’s so silent out there, you can hear the air hum, Cross says.

During the summer, as the sun sets, the lake’s ecosystem bursts to life, with bugs skating across the water, dodging hungry birds and fish.

During the winter, the night sky is incredible, with the moon shining so brightly, you can walk without a flashlight. And there’s the northern lights, which dance across the sky in bands of green.

So why would Cross ever sell this off-the-grid dream cabin? He says his kids are getting older, and he found himself flying out to the property less. It’s time to turn it over to the next prepper and wait for impending doom in Alaskan isolation.

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Source: Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com » Real Estate News